Naturals who never had long hair before...

[hopeful]

I am mostly 4a/4b with maybe some 3b/c hair in the crown. Before I started relaxing my hair was almost always pressed and close to shoulder-length, but not quite. But since relaxing (since I was a teenager) my hair rarely made it to neck-length and whenever it does get that long, it quickly breaks off. Whenever I find a fotki album that inspires me and I think my natural hair looks like hers and look at the possibilities I am almost always disappointed because when I peek at their back-in-the day relaxed pics their hair is usually long, at least shoulder-length, apl, or bra-strap. Everytime I see this I feel deflated. So, I know there are lots of long-haired naturals, and I know there are lots of long-haired 4a/4b ladies, but who are the ladies who as a natural now have at least shoulder-length hair, are primarily 4a/4b and prior to going natural never had shoulder-length hair before? I need inspiration and hope.

TIA

 

[rosalindb]

Good post. The one that comes to mine is crazycoil

http://www.crazycoil.sili.net/picdetail.php?pic=length-back-4may2005.jpg&month=2005jan

I would be interested to hear of others too.

 

[hopeful]

Thanks Rosalindb. Her hair is beautiful.

 

[Cheleigh]

Sorry to go a little guano on your thread, but Hopeful I didn't even noticed that you'd BC'd again.

Congratulations are in order!

 

[so1913]

Sorry to go a little guano on your thread, but Hopeful I didn't even noticed that you'd BC'd again.

Congratulations are in order!

Me neither! Congrats!

 

[hopeful]

Thanks Cheleigh and so1913, it wasn't planned, I just kind of did it and for some reason I'm having a harder time than I did the first time. But I'm determined to stick it out this time.

ETA: Cheleigh, congrats to you on your bc. Your hair is adorable!

 

[rai]

Actually, I'm curious about this too, but not just from the Natural hair point of view. I want to see albums of people with long hair now that didn't have long hair as a child or when they were younger...

 

[dcstarr]

I would too...

 

[Country gal]

I wanted to chime in despite not meeting your requirements. I always had nice full and lenghty hair as a child but not exceedingly long. I would say my natural hair as a child grazed the top of my shoulder. As a relaxed head, my hair was shoulder lenght. I am natural and my hair is shoulder length again only after a year. I think it looks promising for me to have long natural hair. My natural hair shrinks a lot. So it is hard to see the lenght unless stretched.

 

[hopeful]

I wanted to chime in despite not meeting your requirements. I always had nice full and lenghty hair as a child but not exceedingly long. I would say my natural hair as a child grazed the top of my shoulder. As a relaxed head, my hair was shoulder lenght. I am not natural and my hair is shoulder length again only after a year. I think it looks promising for me to have long natural hair. My natural hair shrinks a lot. So it is hard to see the lenght unless stretched.

You chime in whenever you want to. You know your opinion means a lot to me. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MzTami]

hopeful,

Thank you so much for this post! This is an excellent post and I'm ready to read some inspiring stories. I'm struggling with my transitioning(almost 9 months) and desparately need to see some responses. So Naturals please share...

BTW hopeful...Congratulations on the BC...

 

[hopeful]

Aww thanks MzTami. Congrats to you too on transitioning for 9 months, you may not realize it, but that's a long time. When you're ready to bc or at least mini chop, I'll be here cheering you on. We're all in this together, thank goodness, I don't think I could do it alone.

 

[kristina]

I don't have any pictures of my relaxed hair but it was basically stuck at shoulder length. I didn't think it could get longer until I went natural. Of course I didn't take care of my relaxed hair so that probably had something to do with it.

 

[PretteePlease]

i was at shoulder actually past when i text in oct and my hair was between ear and neck as a teen but rarely if ever past

i'm transitioning now and aiming for armpit in june

 

[hopeful]

Thanks Kristina and MsPortugal! Both of you ladies have beautiful hair.

 

[remnant]

I'm about armpit now, and I had never ever reached that length in my whole life (hair relaxed without care or natural), I'm 33!

 

[Country gal]

My friends comment on how fast my natural hair is growing. I do frequent conditioner washes and wears twists as a protective style. I feel pretty confident that my natural hair will reach longer lengths than I had in the past.

 

[Cheleigh]

Thanks Cheleigh and so1913, it wasn't planned, I just kind of did it and for some reason I'm having a harder time than I did the first time. But I'm determined to stick it out this time.

ETA: Cheleigh, congrats to you on your bc. Your hair is adorable!

Stick it out girl!

Thank you for the congrats. I'm loving my new hair.

I had longer relaxed hair, so I'm probably not the best responder for this, but I will say that I think my hair will grow faster as a natural--today I noticed that coils at my nape are brushing my collar--do I need protective styles already?!!

 

[onepraying]

Hey Hopeful!

I'm not completely natural yet, but my nape is. I've never had long hair. When I was a child, natural, never and when I was relaxed the longest was about an inch or so past shoulder then as soon as I started getting happy about my length, it would break off.

My nape is about 4 inches long(the longest it's ever bee!!!) and growing. I, like, Sbaker, I'm sorry, country gal, am confident that I will reach long lengths as a natural...especially armed with the knowledge I've gained from the boards.

As soon as I learn how to effectively remove pics from my camera phone, I'll post.

 

[rosalindb]

I'm about armpit now, and I had never ever reached that length in my whole life (hair relaxed without care or natural), I'm 33!

Your hair is beautiful

What is your routine now and what do you think has specifically contributed to your growth

 

[remnant]

Your hair is beautiful

What is your routine now and what do you think has specifically contributed to your growth

Honestly the first thing who contributed to this is God !
I cried to the lord Jesus to give me hair and he heard me!(I know it's not the christian forum lol )

Secondly have get great tips from Den album:
homemade leave-in (water, glycerin, oils(carrot,olive,castor,coconut,..)
No poo method
Acv rinse + poo once per month
protective style (weave, two strands twists, cornrows, crown and glory methods)
dust ends once a year
vitamins (B,C,E)

 

[hopeful]

Thanks soun and onepraying, the inspiration means so much. Soun, your hair is so pretty it makes my heart skip a beat. And bless your heart for sharing that you cried to the Lord Jesus and he answered. That is powerful stuff. For some hair really is just hair but for some of us it truly is a spiritual journey. I have been struggling with my hair ever since my first relaxer more than 20 years ago, it is time I hand this over to God as well.

Onepraying, we'll be waiting on those pics from your camera phone, I can't wait. If my nape were 4 inches I'd be so happy and to finally not be stressed that it will break because of chemical damage probably feels really good.

Stick it out girl!

Thank you for the congrats. I'm loving my new hair.

I had longer relaxed hair, so I'm probably not the best responder for this, but I will say that I think my hair will grow faster as a natural--today I noticed that coils at my nape are brushing my collar--do I need protective styles already?!!

That's great Cheleigh! We can't wait for the updates.

My friends comment on how fast my natural hair is growing. I do frequent conditioner washes and wears twists as a protective style. I feel pretty confident that my natural hair will reach longer lengths than I had in the past.

LOL conditioner washes and twists are the truth. That's what I did last year when I was natural, well mostly braids cuz my twists sometimes unravelled. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for all of us.

 

[lovelymissyoli]

I'm about armpit now, and I had never ever reached that length in my whole life (hair relaxed without care or natural), I'm 33!

Your hair looks great!! Congrats on growing your hair thus far.

 

[rosalindb]

Honestly the first thing who contributed to this is God !
I cried to the lord Jesus to give me hair and he heard me!(I know it's not the christian forum lol )

Secondly have get great tips from Den album:
homemade leave-in (water, glycerin, oils(carrot,olive,castor,coconut,..)
No poo method
Acv rinse + poo once per month
protective style (weave, two strands twists, cornrows, crown and glory methods)
dust ends once a year
vitamins (B,C,E)

Thank you for responding. I only started my haircare journey a few months ago so it early days for me.

I also do most of the above & I have learnt so much from Nappturality & LHCF. I have never reached APL length so that is my first goal. My ideal length would be BSL so I have some way to go yet but am enjoying the journey.

 

[Enchantmt]

Thank you for responding. I only started my haircare journey a few months ago so it early days for me.

I also do most of the above & I have learnt so much from Nappturality & LHCF. I have never reached APL length so that is my first goal. My ideal length would be BSL so I have some way to go yet but am enjoying the journey.

OT: Where did you get your cute avatar?

On Topic: When I was younger I had longer hair, but not dramatically so. Since I have been putting chemicals in my hair this is about as long as it has gotten:
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-Vg5PvZ4zd6c3NkQzXbWIlGZCPQ--

its not a clear pic, its from a yahoo profile, but you get the idea. (Yeah I know I need to actually set up my 360 page.)Currently I have been natural for a lil over a year (3c/4a) and its already longer than that pic when stretched, so I will see how my length goes as my journey continues.

 

[Blackbird77]

OT: Where did you get your cute avatar?

On Topic: When I was younger I had longer hair, but not dramatically so. Since I have been putting chemicals in my hair this is about as long as it has gotten:
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-Vg5PvZ4zd6c3NkQzXbWIlGZCPQ--

its not a clear pic, its from a yahoo profile, but you get the idea. (Yeah I know I need to actually set up my 360 page.)Currently I have been natural for a lil over a year (3c/4a) and its already longer than that pic when stretched, so I will see how my length goes as my journey continues.

Same thing here for me. I cannot grow long hair if any chemicals have been put in it.

 

[hopeful]

Thanks for the pic Enchantmt, that was helpful. Thanks for posting Blackbird77.

ETA: Lovelymissyoli, I checked out your fotki and your natural hair is looking very nice. Congrats on your January BC.

 

[rosalindb]

OT: Where did you get your cute avatar?

I can' remember what site I got it from but I fell in love with it straight away

That is a nice picture of you - I am so unphotogenic!!!

 

[AllAboutTheHair]

This is the longest my hair has ever been. I keep shocking my whole family with the growth that I am achieving... I think it's pretty cool and kind of funny. They thought I was acting weird washing my hair all the time and walking around with a plastic bag on my head twice a week, but it all paid off.

 

[beyondcute]

Well even as children its a shorter distance to waist length. If we took the same hair off a child and put it on an adult it would be substantially shorter. WIth that said yes my hair was a nice length when I was younger but you haev to remember I was 4 fett adn some change at its longest point . I think all hai rwill grow long when its taken care of. My aunts hair has never been long. Ever. Even as a child. But to look at her now you'd think it was always long. Hers is mid back 4a natural. My computer is acting funny but Ill see if I can scan some pics and send them to you of her. She says going natural helped her hair to grow and wearing a French roll (old school). I'd categorize her French roll as protective styling